Science fans flock to festival (From York Press)
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Science fans flock to festival
8:00am Thursday 13th September 2007 in News
Designer Wayne Hemmingway, right, who talked at the "Invention to Innovation" event, at St William's College
THOUSANDS of visitors both young and old have been taking advantage of York's BA Festival of Science.
One of the more popular attractions which was on yesterday, and continues today and tomorrow, involved youngsters from across the county becoming ancient Egyptians for a day.
More than 140 students from 12 York and North Yorkshire primary schools have been taking on the role of ancient Egyptian engineers in the challenge at the National Railway Museum.
The students, working in teams of six, are being challenged to create new technology for building pyramids.
The challenge is one of many events and activities that are happening as part of the BA Festival of Science, which takes place throughout the city until Saturday.
More than 50,000 visitors are expected to converge on York this week for the festival, which is the UK's biggest annual public celebration of science.
The week-long event started on Sunday and will feature more than 200 events at the University of York campus and at venues across the city.
Organised by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, it is sponsored by Science City York. Events range from an "anti-gravity challenge", a family competition at Rowntree Park to see whose kite flies the best, to a Science Trail Tour - a guided walk tracing the science in the history of York - and a "see it, try it, do it" Science City York marquee, in Parliament Street, looking at career paths into science, technology or the creative media sector.
One of the main events yesterday involved fashion designer Wayne Hemmingway. The co-founder of the iconic British fashion label Red Or Dead, is best known for turning the Doc Martin boot into a global fashion icon and now collaborates with Wimpey Homes on major housing projects that combine affordability and good design.
The Invention To Innovation event was held at St William's College from 9am to 4pm.
Also yesterday, youngsters from St Mary's RC School, in Malton, made a model of the Yorkshire Wheel out of straws as part of an event taking place at Vanbrugh College at the University of York.
